Autographic register.



J. O. SHERMAN.

AUTOGRAPHlC REGISTER.

APPLICATION ms!) JAN-26. i917.

1 ,275,6 1 5; 4 Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

5 2 SHEETSSHEET 1- J. (J. SHERMAN.

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-26,1917.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

JOHNQ. SHERMAN, 0F DAYTON, OHIO.

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1918.

Application filed January 26, 1917. Serial No. 144,735.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, JOHN Q. SHERMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Autographic Registers, of which the follow ing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to autographic registers of the type which feed the several paper strips by means of sprockets which engage in the marginal perforations previously formed in said paper.

I have found that the most desirable arrangement of parts for perfect feeding of a plurality of paper strips in the above manner is to have, in connection with the pins, rolling surfaces which engage the paper on both sides but merely loosely, one surface extending across partway from the base level of the pins, and the other extending'across partway from the level of the blunt points of the pins. In connection with this I have found it valuable to provide for the keeping of the paper lifted off and held from tending to follow the pins, by permitting the pins to merely extend up through a level surface which forms the base over which the pap-Z1; slides as it is fed.

on other objects of this invention are the simp ifying of the necessary structural parts in providing for the sprocket feed and the rolling surfaces adjacent the sprockets. Another object is the formin of a handle for turning the sprocket feeding devices which is itself flocked at the close of each complete feeding turn so that the feeding of the paper by section will be accurate; there will be no necessit of providing against reverse turning of t e sprockets and absolute safety against the handle being accidentally dislodged so as to throw the paper out of perfect registry. The purpose is to force the operator to unlock the handle upon each turn, which operation is made very simple and practically automatic with the grasping of the handle. Another of the purposes of the iiivention is to make the sprocket feed construction such that reat accuracy can be gained in the assembl y of the parts, a matter which has been quite diflicult when the large wooden feed roll was used, which is herein done away with.

These objects and advantages I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more specifically pointed out and claimed.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side. elevation of the forward part of a machine broken away at the upper corner to show the new construction.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the machine, with such end casing or cover as may be used left off.

Fig. 3 is a detail top plan view of the new tablet top and handle device. 1

Fig. 1 is a detail section on the line 1, 1, of Fig. 3.

, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a detail of the new tablet top.

The machine has a casing 1, in the bottom portion of which are mounted the paper rolls 2, :2, which carry the perforated paper of the kind used in the sprocket feed auto graphic registers. The machine has the hinged lid 3 held at the front of the machine by means of catches or fingers 4, 4. The lid hasthe customary dome 5, in which is spring mounted the metal roller 6.

Seated beneath the lid is the tablet top plate 7, supported in the usual manner in lugs or the like on the inside of the casing. Over this plate the paper is drawn in duplicate films, and it will be understood that, as is customary, the lid is to have an opening over the tablet top plate so that writing can be done on the paper.

Mounted across the frame at the front end thereof, is the shaft 8, on which is fast secured the crank 9 having a handle 10. At each end of the shaft inside of the casing is mounted an integral metal disk 11, having on its inner periphery a raised flange 12 having a series of blunt pointed tapering pins 13, so as to form the two feeding sprockets. r

The disks have an intermediate portion 1 1 and at the outer side of each disk is another and wider flange 15 which serves to hold the upper roller 6 above the level of the base of the pins 13.

The tablet top plate extends rearwardly past the sprocket and" the roller flange 15, and is slotted at 16, 16, for the roller flange and at 17, 17 is again independently slotted for the sprocket pins 13.

Between these slots and mounted so that its surface comes slightly above the level of the plate itself is another metal roller 18.

This roller, which of course does not need to be of metal, is suspended from the under side of the tablet top plate by means of small journals 19, 19, which are secured to the bottom of the plate just inside of the slot for the sprockets. In these journals the spindles 20, 20, for the roll are held rotatably. The tablet top plate is slotted enough to allow the roller to protrude through slightly so as to come enough above the level of the top of the plate, that the paper in passing over the pins will be given a rolling surface to move over adjacent the pins, without materially affecting the use of the plate as a perfectly level holder for the paper strips throughout.

It can be seen that the sprocket device is capable of exact assembly with no necessity of forming sprockets over the outside of a wooden roll. The method of hanging the lower antifriction roll for the paper to the tablet top itself, or the stripper plate itself, permits of very simple assembly of the machine and does away with the large feeding roll heretofore thought necessary for use in connection with sprocket feed. The term stripper is intended to cover in this device that portion, integral or not with the tablet top which lies around the sprockets so as to lift the paper from the pins while being fed.

The crank and handle for turning the sprocket shaft are locked at the end of each complete stroke automatically, and must be unlocked before another revolution can be made. At the end of the lever or crank 9 is a beveled portion 22, which is on the upper side of the crank, when being started in operating the machine. Just below the beveled portion is a hole 23 for receiving the locking pin.

In a boss at on the casing of the machine slides a pin 25 pressed outwardly by a spring 26. The boss is slotted above the pin hole, at 27, and secured to the pin and extending out through this slot is a finger piece 28. By pushing on this finger piece the pin will be pressed back against the spring into the hole in the boss. In operating the machine the handle is brought around so that the beveled portion strikes the pin and forces it in, until the hole 23 is opposite the pin,- when the pin will fly out and engage and lock the crank. To release this lock, the finger piece 28 must be pushed in, but this is simple in operation because the left hand when seizing the bandle to turn in can be used at the same time to push out the pin.

The advantage of this handle device is quite plain, when it is considered that it is necessary to feed out just one complete printed sheet of paper at a time, and if the feed gets out at the start, then when tearing off the duplicate checks. there will not be a perfect check to tear 0d. There is no necessity of providing against backthrow on the sprocket feed disks, and the machine can be operated by touch, since turning the crank past the locking pin is not possible and the operator can always turn until the handle is locked. When he does this, there is no danger of any one striking the handle so as to dislodge it and push it backward, thereby resulting in bending some of the parts if there is a back Winding preventer, or else releasing the duplicate strips from the sprocket pins.

The operation of the machine will be evident from the foregoing description. The strips of paper with perforations along each side are fed from the rolls over the writing tablet, with the sprocket pins engaging the perforations and with the usual carbon paper between the strips over the writing tablet. The paper strips pass between the rolls 6 and 18, which are sufiiciently separated to furnish a rolling contact for the upper and lower strips without pressing thestrips together. By turning the crank handle 9 one complete turn, the sprocket pins entering the holes in the paper strips push them out from the machine and the two rollers very largely take care of the friction between the strips. The feed of the paper will thus be accomplished with great accuracy.

lit is not intended by the failure to mention various equivalents in the above matter that the claims which follow be limited to exact structure where such is not plainly called for, and it is desired that the doctrine of equivalents be applied in the construction of the following claims, without respect to whether the possibility of such equivalents are mentioned in the above specification or not.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

' 1. In a machine of the character described,

the combination with a sprocket feeding device, of idler rolls mounted adjacent said sprocket feeding device so that one extends below the points and the other above the base of the paper engaging portion of the sprockets, said rolls being spaced apart so as to exert no tension on the paper engaged by said sprockets.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a pair of wheels having sprocket pins thereon, a plate passing over the sprockets and slotted to permit of the extensions of the pins therethrough, means on the plate for supporting a roll, said roll being adapted to extend slightly above the top surface of the plate.

3. A combination stripperplate and tablet top comprising a tablet top portion, an extension therefrom, slots in the extension for permitting sprocket teeth to project roller beneath said the casing therethrough, a slot in the extension running across between the sprocket slots, and means on the extension for supporting a cross slot.

4. In an autographic register, the combination with feeding sprocket spaced apart, a plate positioned above said sprockets and slotted to permit the teeth of said sprockets to extend through the plate, and an antifriction roll between said slots mounted on the plate.

5. In an autographic register, the combination with a pair of feeding sprockets having teeth to engage in perforations in a pluralitv of films of paper, and a pair of idler anti riction rolls positioned adjacent the sprockets, one above and one below the paper while being fed by said sprockets.

6. In an autographie register, the combination with an operating mechanism for feeding paper, of an operating handle therefor, a casing for the machine, and means on the casing and on the handle for comin into locking position to lock the handle at the close of each operation, until said means are positively released, said means eomprising a hole in the handle and a spring pin on with a camming surface on the handle to force said pin into hole-engaging position when moving the handle in one direction only.

7. In an autographic register, the combination with sprockets for feeding perforated strips of paper in perfect registry, of a roll located over the sprockets and springpressed toward the same, and means controlled by the sprocket for maintaining said roll at all times at a position below the points of the sprockets but not as low as the full engaging point of said sprockets, and not so as to clamp the paper.

8. In an autographie register, the combination with a pair of metallic sprockets having radial pins thereon cut to a taper, a common metallic shaft for mounting said sprockets whereby great accuracy can be obtained, a stripper device for paper to lead such paper past the sprockets, said sprockets adapted to engage successive perforations in the paper to feed the same, and means independent of the sprockets and the common connecting shaft between them for providing a rollin surface beneath the paper as it is engage by the said sprockets.

JOHN Q. SHERMAN. 

